Ohio University's student trustees visited Student Senate Wednesday evening to advertise the upcoming trustee selection process.
Wednesday night, Trustees Danielle Parker and Allison Arnold, both juniors studying public relations, spoke about the upcoming trustee application deadline as well as student trustee voting rights.
Parker will finish her two-year term as student trustee this spring and Gov. John Kasich will select a new trustee after an application process. Parker and Arnold spoke with senate about student trustee duties and the characteristics of a good student trustee.
Student trustee voting rights have been recently addressed because of a bill introduced in November by Ohio Reps. Mike Duffey (R-21) and Michael Stinziano (D-25).
“I just don’t think it’s necessary at OU,” Parker said. “I’m in the belief to look out for student trustees at other institutions. We’re listened to by the board — that’s not always the case at other institutions.”
Last year, when Arnold was running for the student trustee position, she advocated student trustee voting rights. However, she has since changed her mind, she said.
“Two years may not be a long enough time to make a decision in that regard,” Arnold said. “It might be very hard to make a voting decision when you are a constituent and serving on the board at the same time.”
Senate President Kyle Triplett served as a student trustee from 2009-2011 and said he is also cautious about voting rights.
“I feel that being on the board — my experience was that I didn’t need to have voting rights, because the voting trustees really take what the student trustees have to say seriously,” Triplett said Tuesday. “I always thought it would be a strange conflict of interest.”
Though OU's Board of Trustees has decided not to support the bill, its members are in the process of developing a “best practices” draft that will encourage other institutions to involve student trustees in meetings and decision-making processes, Parker said.
“If we’re not going to advocate for the voting rights, we need to develop another mechanism to come up with ideas that grant student trustees at other institutions the same rights,” Parker said.
Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi said he does not feel a certain way about student voting rights but appreciates the discussion.
“I’m just delighted that they feel appreciated and valued (by our board),” he said.
sj950610@ohiou.edu
